A Prayer For 2007

Rev Dr Mark Porizky

12/31/06

Luke 2:41-52

            I love the Christmas Eve service, the lights, the singing, and the whole church family gathered in large numbers.  I was particularly glad to see those who only worship occasionally, extended family and occasional guests who maybe only worship on Christmas Eve.

            But today is different. And in many ways I value this Sunday so much more than any of the Sundays of Advent, or even Christmas Eve. 

            Today, I am particularly glad to see all of you, for you are the hard core folk, the ones who have integrated the life of worship into the weekly rhythms of your lives. You—we—are members of a small and select club—the habitual Christians who even come to church the Sunday after Christmas, the Sunday after Easter, and sometimes even during the Sundays which make up the dog days of August.

            As a result, you are the ones who, over the years, have heard the whole story of Scripture and have allowed it to sink into your bones.  If the only service you come to is the Christmas Eve service you can easily begin to think that the birth of Jesus is a climactic moment in the Christian life. But Scripture does not raise up the birth story as a climactic moment, just one story of many stories. Scripture sees Jesus’ birth, his early life, including a horrible massacre; Scripture takes us through all of Jesus’ life in order to bring us to Easter. 

            From the view of the writers of Scripture, today’s story is as important as the Christmas story. And so I thank you for being here to receive it.

            Today, our Gospel lesson is the only story we have about Jesus between the ages of six weeks and thirty years. And it takes place in church, or rather, in the Temple. We know from the first two chapters of Luke that tradition and worship are important.  Elizabeth, Zechariah, Anna, Simeon, Mary, and Joseph—they all faithfully honor the traditions of their ancestors by offering prayer and praise and sacrifice regularly in the sanctuary on all the appropriate holy days and family days. Worship for them is like worship has always been for me—as normal and necessary as brushing my teeth. And when I miss worship, there is something not right with my soul.

            This story about Jesus and the elders is important. For it tells us something about how Jesus got to be savior of the world. Yes, God created Jesus to be who Jesus is, but Jesus also had to do his part. In the flow of the whole gospel, this Temple story is pivotal because it shows Jesus beginning to understand, beginning to sense his call, and beginning to know that his world is bigger than Nazareth and that his loyalties are larger than Mary and Joseph.

            The text tells us that Jesus sat, that Jesus listened, that Jesus asked questions—kind of like worship, Sunday school and confirmation class all rolled into one. And it doesn’t take much imagination to see Jesus doing this all the time, not only on his annual treks to Jerusalem, but also week in and week out in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth. Though Jesus’ ministry took place out there in the streets and cities, the slums and households of Galilee, his own spiritual nurture took place in places like the one we are in now—in the weekly habits and rituals of worship and a worshipping community.

            I take great pains to point out to people the importance of regular worship attendance to those whom I know.

            At some level, it seems to be a no-brainer. All the studies show that those of us who are regularly involved in a spiritual community live longer, are healthier, and have happier marriages and less stress in our lives. Churchgoers give away more money, volunteer more hours, and vote more frequently. I bet if the positive effects of regular church attendance could be sold in a bottle, it would fly off the shelves.

            But, somehow, all this good news does not translate into statistics. Only about twenty percent of Americans worship weekly, and our children, some of whom spend over twenty-five hours a week watching television, are attending one hour of church school less and less frequently. Unlike Jesus, who sat and listened and asked questions in order to figure out who God was and who God wanted him to be, our children increasingly don’t have a clue.

            On this Sunday just before the beginning of a new year, I hope that we can resolve to change this, not only for ourselves, but for all the children and adults we hold dear. Though I sense that you don’t need to hear this, indeed I really do believe that I’m preaching to the choir when I look out at all of you, these are the important ideas about Jesus that this story tells me:

                1) Don’t wait until the end of the day to look for Jesus. Joseph and Mary didn’t even think about Jesus until the end of the day.  There are reasons for this, of course,  They traveled in a caravan, the men in the front for protection against enemies on the road, the woman bringing up the rear.  Children were usually in the back with the women, but Jesus was almost the age of Jewish manhood.  He certainly was precocious.  Likely he kept running up to the front to listen to what the men were talking about. The culture did not permit women to read Scripture so if Jesus wanted to hear Scripture debated, well, he had to run to the front.  I imagine Mary and Joseph were used to seeing Jesus flit from front to back, not unlike many children I imagine.  Each probably thought Jesus was with the other. 

            Mary and Joseph learned what we must learn.  It is so important to keep Jesus in our mind throughout the day.  When you wake up think about Jesus.  When you drive to work or to school, think about Jesus. When you encounter some sort of adversity during your day, think about Jesus.  When you have something to celebrate think about Jesus.  Don’t wait until the end of the day to look for Jesus. Or the end of your wits.  Too many look for Jesus when they’ve already lost sight of him.   

            2)  We can find Jesus reading and interpreting scripture.  Scripture is the supreme witness to Jesus.  The Bible was important to Jesus, and it should be important to us.  Mary and Joseph found Jesus reading and interpreting scripture.  In a somewhat different way we can also find Jesus reading and interpreting scripture.

            Before most people had telephones, let alone email, the telegram was the nearest we had to instant communication. Few people under 50 will have ever seen one.

            In the dark days of the Second World War, the sight of a "telegraph boy" bringing a Post Office telegram up the path was feared, because so often it brought news of a serviceman missing in action or dead.

            When Private Eric Skelding escaped from Dunkirk, he sent a telegram to his mother to say he was safe.  Years later, after he had become a Christian, he wrote that, "Some kind person in the Post Office wrote 'Good news' in pencil on the envelope. I have always been grateful to that unknown person," he said. “My mother was saved from a fearful experience.

            He then went on to say that many people fear to open a Bible, thinking that it is full of stories about a hard and frightening God. Or perhaps they think there is nothing significant in it at all - an empty envelope. It is so easy to have a false image of God - maybe one that we received at school or home, even sadly, at a church.

            Skelding writes that he has written the words "good news" on the cover of a Bible. For that is all that the word "gospel" means.  And each time he opens it, he never wants to forget that he will find Jesus in there while he is reading it.

            3)  Jesus is always where he is supposed to be, and if you look for him you will find him. 

            William Willimon tells a favorite story from one of his theological students when he was the chaplain at Duke Divinity School.  The student said:

            "I was the teenager from hell.  I made my parents' lives utterly miserable.  I flunked out of college and spent a couple of years working.  While working I met a  woman, we had a child, and started attending church for the kid. I listened occasionally. Gradually it began to dawn on me that if God had a calling for everyone, God had a calling for me.  I went back to college and soon realized that I wanted to be a pastor. 

            "I dreaded telling my parents after all I had put them through, now that my life was taking this unexpected turn.  I met with my parents and told my story and that I now believed that God was calling me to be a pastor.

            "Suddenly my mother burst into tears, saying, 'I'm so ashamed!  I can't believe this has happened,' she said. I was troubled by her response.  'What do you mean?' I asked.  'I can't believe this happened,' she said.  'Didn't I tell you before you that before you were born I had a couple of miscarriages?  I didn't think I would ever have a child.  So I promised God that if I could be allowed to have a baby, that I could bring to term, I would name him Samuel and dedicate him to God, just like Hannah did back in the Old Testament.' "

            The son heard all of this with astonishment.  "Why didn't you ever tell me?" he asked.  "You could have saved me a whole lot of trouble.'"

            "We're Presbyterians," the mother replied. "How was I to know something like this would work?  I didn't know whether we believed in that kind of thing."

            Believe it.  Jesus is right where he’s supposed to be, going about his Father’s business. If you are truly looking, there you will find him.

            That’s my prayer for 2007.  That you will look.  And that Jesus may find you and comfort you.

            Will you pray with me now?

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton , CT

Web Site: SAPC-CT.HOME.ATT.NET

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